Investigation of Boeing Dreamliners still in early stages

Head of NTSB says more testing needed to determine cause of battery fire

January 25, 2013|By Gregory Karp, Chicago Tribune reporter

A fire-damaged battery is the focus of an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. (JONATHAN ERNST, Reuters Photo)

Boeing 787 Dreamliners will remain flightless birds for some time, it appears.

Federal investigators are still early in their probe of a Dreamliner battery fire in Boston on Jan. 7, National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Deborah Hersman said Thursday. That fire, along with a subsequent 787 battery problem in Japan, led to last week's groundings of Boeing's breakthrough plane model in the U.S. and elsewhere.

The fact that investigators have not found a cause for the battery fire may suggest that grounded Dreamliners, including six owned by Chicago-based United Airlines, won't be airborne anytime soon.

"We are early in our investigation. We have a lot of activity to undertake," Hersman said, pointing to one upcoming forensic test that takes a week to perform. "There is a lot more work to be done before we can identify what caused this event."

The NTSB is the lead investigator of the battery fire in Boston aboard a Japan Airlines 787 aircraft.

While some aviation experts have called the 787's numerous mechanical glitches "teething pains" that all new airplane models go through, Hersman emphasized the gravity of fires on planes.

"This is an unprecedented event. We are very concerned ... we do not expect to see fire events on board aircraft," she said. "This is a very serious air safety concern."

Nobody was hurt during the fire on the 787 in Boston or during an emergency landing in Japan after battery-related smoke and fumes on a different 787 were discovered.

The NTSB investigation will attempt to explain why multiple backup protections in the battery and the electronics systems aimed at preventing a fire failed, Hersman said.

"These events should not happen," she said. "As far as the design of the aircraft, there are multiple systems to protect against a battery event like this. Those systems did not work as intended. We need to understand why."

Besides fire, NTSB investigators found evidence of short circuits in the charred eight-cell, 63-pound battery and "thermal runaway," essentially uncontrolled spreading of heat. But those were symptoms, not necessarily causes, Hersman said.

The batteries were made in Japan by Kyoto-based GS Yuasa Corp.

News that the NTSB investigation may be a protracted one — longer than the few days some had predicted — is bad news for Chicago-based Boeing Co.

Boeing last week halted deliveries of the newly produced 787s until the Federal Aviation Administration lifts a ban on flying the jets. However, Dreamliner production continues. Boeing is working to double monthly output in 2013 to help shrink a backlog of about 800 unfilled orders that swelled during multiple delays to the jet's debut, which came in late 2011.

Deliveries are important because that's when plane-makers get large bulk payments on the purchase price of a jet. The 787's list price starts at about $207 million, but airlines typically buy at discount.

Boeing said Thursday it is assisting in multiple investigations in the U.S. and Japan.

"The company has formed teams consisting of hundreds of engineering and technical experts who are working around the clock with the sole focus of resolving the issue and returning the 787 fleet to flight status," the company said.

Dreamliners in the U.S., Japan, Europe and elsewhere have been grounded since Jan. 16, after a 787 operated by All Nippon Airways made an emergency landing in Japan because battery-related smoke and fumes. That followed the fire in Boston that the NTSB is investigating.

Boeing has sold about 850 of the aircraft, with 50 delivered to date. To improve fuel efficiency, the plane is built with a composite material, leading some to call it a "plastic plane." It also makes greater use of electronics, powered by batteries, rather than heavy hydraulics.

"There is a tremendous amount of work going on all around the world," Hersman said. "We actually have two shifts of employees both here and in Japan who really are working around the clock to try to solve this."